The
managing director and chief executive officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi
Okonkwo, is said to be pleading with the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) to get soft-landing over a 14-count charge of conspiracy and
money laundering before a federal high court judge.
The
Fidelity Bank boss is said to be lobbying a top official at the Presidency to
help him intervene and settle out of court, but sources privy to the moves told
our reporter that the anti-graft agency rejected the plea stressing that the
bank chief must be jailed if found culpable.
The
anti-graft agency had arrested Okonkwo and some officials of the bank for
allegedly receiving $115m from a former minister of Petroleum Resources,
Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The EFCC
also arrested the bank’s head of Operations, Mr. Martins Izuogbe, for his role
in the alleged scam, which the anti-graft agency described as unprecedented.
According
to reports, in the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, Diezani invited
Okonkwo to help her handle some cash, which would be disbursed to electoral
officials and groups.
However,
the fraud was uncovered when the EFCC began investigations into how officials
of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom
States received N675.1m.
It was
alleged that the first company, Auctus Integrated, deposited $17,884,000 into
the bank. The second company, Northern Belt Gas Company, deposited $60m while
another company, Midwestern Oil and Gas, deposited $9.5m. A fourth company,
Leno Laitan Adesanya, deposited $1.85m while the MD himself received $26m in
cash.”
Diezani’s
son, Ugonna Madueke, later served as a middleman between the former minister
and the MD of the bank.
The bank
officials were arrested, charged to court and granted administrative bail.
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